Today (Oct. 18) at the school where I have taught for over 20 years, more than two-thirds of our students will not be attending school. They won’t learn, they won’t see their friends, they won’t eat a guaranteed breakfast and lunch, and the idea that the world is not a safe place for them will be reinforced — again. This is a failure of policy and governance that our children can’t access their education.
Twinfield Union School in Plainfield received a threat of violence two weeks ago of an intended school shooting on Oct. 18. Understandably, many families do not want to send their precious children to school in case the threat is realized. The school was open, as we have worked closely with the state police and it would appear that the threat was most likely a hoax and part of a wider attempt to disrupt people’s lives by nefarious actors.
We are a tight-knit community, which is the reason I choose to live here, raise my children here, and work here. We care for and about each other and it is for those reasons I felt confident that I could go to work today and facilitate learning for the students who are here.
But I am angry. I am angry that our children’s education is being disrupted once again. I am angry because the threat and fear of harm happening at any of our schools seems to grow exponentially with each passing year. Again, this is a failure of policy and governance that our children can’t access their education and that we have to live in fear of being killed going to school.
I am asking, demanding, that Gov. Scott and the Vermont General Assembly seek to address the root causes of this fear. Pass common-sense legislation that would actually address the root cause of why we have to be afraid to go to school.
Tracey Witherspoon
Marshfield
